Unexpected Surprise
by casketteer
Summary: Beckett and Castle get called on a crime scene, although when they show up to the location, they both start feeling uneasy. They'll soon discover that they were better off dealing with paperwork then showing up.
1. Chapter 1

Beckett and Castle get called on a crime scene, although when they show up to the location, they both start feeling uneasy. They'll soon discover that they were better off dealing with paperwork then showing up. For this situation will make them face things they've never faced before.

Rated T

Chapter 1:

It was a regular day at the office. Kate was sitting at her desk starting to deal with her paperwork. She loved her job but, the thought of the paperwork made her nauseous. She got up to get a cup of coffee, at least this would make it more _fun_. She went to the coffee machine and started making herself a latte. She loved the smoothness of it, plus it broke the routine of her regular coffee. She then went back to her desk, took a deep breath, and went at it.

The clock read 8:30, she thought it was weird that Castle hadn't arrived yet, but he _was_ here on his own interest so he more or less had a schedule, unless of course, that he got Beckett's call in the middle of the night. She was finishing her first report when she saw a nice Grande coffee show up in front of her. Castle had arrived with her coffee and her bear claw.

"Hey Castle, thanks I really needed this" She told him with a grateful smile

"Why, you are welcome detective Beckett." He said, glad that he made her happy.

"So what are you up to?"

"Just finishing the report from our last case" she said with a fed up expression.

Castle knew that Beckett was more of the action girl and not the type to make reports. Beckett likes it when she has to pick her brain, when things don't make sense. She likes the intrigue of each homicide, she also likes having Castle around, because of his, 'out of this world' ideas, which sometimes work out. She loves how he thinks outside the box, its proven to be very helpful for the past 3 yrs.

"Anything I can do to help you Beckett?"

"No, I'm almost done." She was very concentrated

He could sense that she wanted to get this over with, he didn't want to bother her. He got up and went to Ryan's desk

"Hey Ryan, how are the wedding plans coming along?"

"Ugh...don't talk to me about that, Jenny is going crazy, picking the right flowers, the right color to match the flowers, the chairs, the-"

"Oh yeah, I hear ya! Don't worry it's well worth it in the end"

"Yeah?"

"No actually, and I can't believe I did it twice" Castle said going back to memory lane not noticing that it was freaking Ryan out even more. Castle then looked up at Ryan who had a petrified look on his face.

"Uh-no Ryan I'm just kidding man! It was great!" He tried to calm him down, which didn't work at all

"Ah great I'll have to deal with this for the rest of my life" Ryan said as he turned around and headed for the coffee machine mumbling things to himself. He was obviously anxious about it all.

"Good job Castle!" said Beckett, walking past him. She did have a smirk on her face. She knew that Ryan was completely freaking out over silly details.

"Hey Ryan, don't let it get to you, she just wants everything to be perfect. She loves you and just wait until it passes, it'll be all worth it in the end." Beckett was trying to reassure Ryan, which seemed to help.

"Just tell yourself that she's been planning this since she was 10, she's been waiting for her prince charming, you're him. Now just try and control your stress and it'll calm her down too" Beckett gave him a tap on the shoulder to let him know it would be fine and walked back to her desk. Kate Beckett was a 'hard-ass' sometimes but she was also an understanding woman, who always found the right words to comfort the people around her.

"Wow Beckett, that did the trick" Castle was somewhat impressed by the effect it had had on Ryan. She smiled at him and got back to work.

"So you've been planning your wedding since you were 10." Castle asked with a hint of a smile, not knowing that Beckett had had planned hers for so long.

Beckett rolled her eyes, she knew where this was going.

"No, Castle I haven't been planning my wedding since I was 10. But, I had friends that did, come to think of it I never even thought about planning my wedding" She then got back to what she was doing, knowing to well that other interrogation questions would follow.

"You mean to tell me that you NEVER even thought about getting married?" Castle found it weird since he had been married twice, had a daughter and a mother at home so, he knew how important marriage was to woman.

"I'm not saying that I never thought about it, but I never planned it. I always thought that a wedding should be planned with my future husband. Something we'd both want, that way it makes it even more special." She said these words and Castle was in awe. In all the women he knew, _she_ was the only one that had included the man. He thought that it was a great idea, he himself would have liked to be a bigger part of his previous marriages

After about 30 minutes later Castle had finished his coffee, and was still doodling on a piece of paper when Beckett's phone rang

"Beckett, ok, got it"

Castle was eager for a case, he was getting bored with his doodle

"Ryan, Esposito, we got a new one" She then looked at Castle who was already on his feet and ready to go. She smiled grabbed her coat and they were off.

any suggestions, don't be shy


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

"Wow, I love fall. The leaves are beautiful and everything is all colourful."Castle said

It was a sunny day out, and the autumn weather was starting to appear. It was cold in the morning but warm in the afternoon. For this season is one of many surprises. As they were driving past Central Park, the orange, red and yellow tree colors were magnificent, even if it meant winter was around the corner, he still enjoyed it.

Finally getting to the scene something felt wrong...

"That's weird," Beckett said, starting to feel a bit uneasy

"What, what's wrong?" Castle hadn't noticed that there was no one there, for he was still in awe of the beautiful colors.

"Castle, no one's here" Beckett got out her gun she knew that something was wrong.

"Come on Kate, we're just the first ones to get here, no need to take your gun out." As soon as he had said that he felt a sudden sting in this back.

He looked at Beckett, she looked back at him, she too had been hit. They both feel unconscious to the floor.

Castle was coming out of it, all he could hear were background noises, which seemed far away. He was slowly coming back to himself. When he started opening his eyes, which was very painful, he remembered what had happened. He awoke quickly,

"Kate! Kate! Are you here?"

The room was black, although some light was coming through. He couldn't see anything because he was still under the effect of, whatever that had knocked him out.

"Beckett!" Castle was afraid that something might have happened to her.

Meanwhile Beckett was slowly coming out of it. Castle's screams were what made her come back to her senses

"Beckett! Answer me! Beckett" Castle was panicking. He tried to move and see if he could touch her. He then realised that he was tied to a chair.

"Kate!"

"Castle? Castle...yeah I'm here" she said in a faint voice, she was barely awake. She had had the same dose as Castle but with her petite size, she had been more affected by the drug.

"Oh thank god, Kate are you ok?" Castle was alarmed, but relieved that she was there with him.

"Yeah I'm okay Castle, I'm just tired.." she was dosing off every now and then

This lasted about an hour. While Beckett was coming back to herself, Castle was analysing everything around them. His eyes, now being used to the dim light, could distinguish objects and forms.

"Beckett are you better now?" he had been observing this place so he was ready to talk about how to get out of here!

"Yeah I'm good now." Beckett was now analysing the situation.

"What happened?" asked Castle

"I don't know, I got the call and I came here, like we always do but it was an ambush" Beckett was trying to remember if the phone call had seemed out of the ordinary, but it seemed completely legit.

"Why do you think we got kidnapped?"

"Honestly I have no idea, I mean everything seemed normal when we left"

"Well, that's what we wanted you to think Detective Beckett" the voice came from behind Castle. They both jumped at the man's response.

"Who are you? What do you want from us?" Beckett was trying to get information to why they had been taken.

"Seems that you two haven't been minding your own business and now you're here to explain yourselves." the man seemed pissed off by the fact that they had put their noses in his business

"What are you talking about?" Beckett had no idea to what he was referring to.

Castle was trying to figure out what was going on, what had they done that would have pissed someone off that much.

"You have come upon a document which was on a vacant desk in the Armstrong building" the man continued, "I know that you have glanced at the documents inside and that was a big mistake"

Beckett and Castle instantly remembered what those documents were. They were some kind of plan to destroy some foreign old building in South Africa. It had looked like a normal procedure, since the building was old and dangerous for the people living around it. Castle had analysed the document to find out that there was nothing wrong with this particular building, but it was probably being destroyed for some other reason. He had talked about it to Beckett but, his imagination was so extravagant that Beckett couldn't always take in what he was saying. Let's face it, most of the time when he went off...none of it made sense

"Ok so what about those documents?" Castle asked

"Well you weren't suppose to look at them and now we have to know exactly how much you know on the matter" The man stayed in the dark corners of the room. He didn't show his face.

The fact that he was staying away from them, told Beckett that they probably knew him and that he didn't want them to recognise him.

"Well what do you want to know?" Castle was trying to find out how much he thought, he knew.

" I know that you have analysed the documents quit well, Mr. Castle and that you have shared your insight with Ms. Beckett."

"Yeah well, if you must know no one knows that we had those documents." Beckett was trying to stall a bit while trying to figure out what to do.

A tall and big man came toward Castle. Castle was starting to feel uneasy he knew something bad was going to happen, soon


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The man stood over Castle a few seconds; he then untied his hands, then another man showed up. As he lifted Castle up he tied his hands in his back, he then held Castle in a tight grip. Castle knew too well what was about to happen, he was going to be used as a punching bag.

"We don't know anything! All we noticed is that the building wasn't dangerous and that its still being destroyed" Beckett didn't want them to hurt Castle over some damn speculations that Castle had!

"I'm afraid that you know a lot more than you claim, Detective Beckett." The man got closer to Castle

"Mr. Castle, this can be easy or hard, it's all up to you,"

Castle looked at Beckett's face, she was worried, she didn't want Castle to be tortured.

"Well, I came across the document" BAM in the ribs, Castle screamed out of pain, he wasn't expecting such a quick retaliation.

"I don't want to know what you did, I want to know what you found out!"

Castle trying to catch his breath, he got the wind knocked out of him. Beckett was burning up inside. How was this relevant, why were they being kept here? Why was Castle being tortured?

_If he would have found something he would have told me? Right? _

Castle finally got his breath back

"Umm as I was reading through the document-" BAM in the stomach "AHHH!" Castle was in pain, he was trying to explain but they kept hitting him

"WHAT DID YOU FIND?" The man was growing impatient

"I noticed that there was something odd, this particular building wasn't the one mentioned in the report." Castle squinted expecting to get hit again. He didn't want to look at Beckett right now because he didn't want her to see him like this.

Beckett was in complete fury, all she wanted is to get him out of there

"Right, go on,"

*Meanwhile*

Ryan and Esposito got to the crime scene, Lanie was already there examining the body.

"Hey Espo, have you seen Beckett? I need to show her this." She was grinning, for the body reminded her of a certain party they had had together a few years back. A party that both don't really remember its dénoument...

"Uh- no they left 5 minutes before we did, they should be here by now," Ryan and Esposito looked at each other with a worried look.

"I'll call Beckett, you call Castle" Ryan said with a concerned intonation.

No answer, they both knew something was up...

"What's wrong?" Lanie asked. They both had upset faces, and they were right to be worried

"Sir, we have a little situation here, Beckett and Castle aren't here. Have you called them for another crime scene Sir?" Esposito called Gates he didn't want to lose any time with this situation.

"No det. Esposito they were suppose to come with you at the scene. Come back to the precinct, I'll send another team out for this one."

"What's going on?" Lanie was now worried that her friend was MIA.

"It's Beckett and Castle, they were suppose to arrive before us, and they're not answering their phones. Something's wrong" Esposito was explaining while heading back to his car

"I'll call you as soon as I get more info!" He got into the car and headed back to the precinct.

Lanie nodded and tried to get back to what she was doing. It was hard for this body had already brought back memories of her and Kate. She prayed that her friend was going to fine...

The guys headed back to the precinct, with the police lights and alarm. They needed to get there as soon as possible, their friends were in danger and they had to find them, FAST.

As Javier got into the precinct parking, he looked at Ryan with a disconcerted look.

"Wait, isn't that-"

"Beckett's car!" Ryan seemed relieved but Espo wasn't..

They ran into the 12th hoping that all of this was a misunderstanding. When they got upstairs they saw no one at Beckett's desk. They looked at each other and headed to Gates' office.

*Back to torture*

"I noticed that the building on the pictures weren't the actual building that was going to be destroyed, then was I going to look into it but I didn't get the chance to do so." He lightly looked up at Beckett who was completely petrified at the thought that she was next but more so that Castle wasn't trained for this. She had always protected him before but now she was completely un useful.

BAM in the stomach again "AHHH!" his screams were a mixture of pain and anger. He didn't want to give them all the info he had because most of it was something he had made up

"We'll give you a break for now, but you better start talking or else your girlfriend will get it!" the man sat him back down on the chair, this time not tying him to it.

Both men walked away.

"You better get ready for it Det. You're next" said the voice that was still in hiding behind the shadows. He too walked away

"Castle are you ok?" Beckett asked in a whisper

"I will be, man these guys have baseball bats instead of hands" Castle had trouble breathing caused by the first blow he got.

He got up and brought his chair closer to Beckett's he wasn't tied down to it anymore, he wanted to get closer so they could talk about this,

"GET UP!" said a man. They recognized him as the man that was holding Castle while being punched. He then untied Beckett as well.

"We're getting out of here, we're changing place"

"Where are we going?" Castle asked

"Somewhere else!" said the man bringing them towards a car.

Beckett and Castle didn't know if they should be relieved or not.

As they walked toward the car they both noticed that everything they had had on them was gone: phone, wallet, everything! The man put some clothe like bag over their heads so they couldn't see where they were bringing them.

They knew that with them on the run like this, they'd be harder to find. Neither of them had their phones so no way of tracing them. They both had a worried look under their bags, how would the others ever find them...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

Back at the precinct, Ryan and Esposito were debriefing in Gates' office.

"So you mean to tell me that there had been a change of destination?" Gate questioned back

"Yeah someone came on the radio saying that the actual address was 2 blocks East of where we were heading. It was a general call so we figured that Beckett had gotten the modified address." Esposito was explaining to the Captain.

"Why didn't you guys get to the scene immediately?" Gates continued the questioning. She too was trying to figure out what might have gone wrong.

"Well, while waiting at a light we saw that there was a fight coming about so we stopped before it degenerated into something more serious. We figured that Beckett would get there and then she'd give us the details on the crime. When we got there they hadn't arrived yet." Ryan explained

"Umm Sir, as we arrived at the precinct we saw that Beckett's car was in the parking lot, we thought that she might have come back, but she hasn't. So someone brought the car back here." Ryan told Gates

"Ok have security bring out the camera recordings and hopefully we'll get a face on this person. Meanwhile go look in Beckett's car, maybe we'll have clues in there."

Ryan called security to get the recording, "Yes sir, we'll get those for you. As soon as we get the video we'll call you." said the security guard.

Mean while Esposito had CSU come and take a good look at Beckett's car. They started going through the car. On the passenger seat were Beckett's phone, badge but her gun was missing. They also found Castle's wallet and phone.

It hadn't taken too long for CSU to show something disturbing to Det. Ryan and Esposito. Pictures had been taken with their phones. Both pictures were similar, Beckett was unconscious and tied to a chair, on Castle's phone, and vise versa.

Ryan and Esposito were now even more worried, they knew that they were both alive but unconscious. They went up to Gates' office, she was outraged that they had taken these pictures saying' we got them now try and catch us.'

"Sir I say we send a team to the original address where we got the call!" Esposito was suggesting to Gates

"I've done that already, but they found nothing, as soon as you mentioned the original address I had a team go out to the building." Gates was a step ahead, but still nothing had turned up.

"Ryan," he answered his phone.

"What? Are you sure? How's that possible? Check it again!" Ryan insisted

"But Sir-" said the security guard

"Check it again!" Ryan was even more worried he knew now that this was planned and that these people had thought everything through. He hung up.

He had a worried face, Esposito didn't like that look it meant a lot!

"Well Det. Ryan can you share what you just learned." Gates was intrigued but what he was told

"The security cameras Sir, they didn't record any of it Sir. They were deactivated for a two hour period." Ryan explained

"What?" Both Gates and Esposito responded in the same way

"That's why I told them to check it again!"

"Ok, they want a fight they'll get it. You two, get photo techs to enhance these pictures, maybe we can find something. Maybe we'll have a clue to where they are being held hostage."

"Got it!" Ryan and Esposito headed out of her office and started doing what they were used to doing. They called the best picture enhancer they knew , they needed to find them as soon as possible. They couldn't waste any time.

About an hour later, they got the enhanced pictures. They tried to figure out if anything was giving them a clue to where it could be, but nothing popped out.

"Esposito, in here please." Gates called him into her office.

"Officer Cox, might have seen the suspect bring in Beckett's car." Gates continued

"Uh- I was coming in at around 9:00am I got in a bit early to finish paperwork and I saw this man come out of Beckett's patrol car. I didn't think much of it at the time but when I heard that Beckett and Castle went missing I came in to talk to Captain Gates about it." She continued on,

"The man was wearing glasses and a black cap, he saw that I was questioning myself, as to why he had Beckett's car. He told me 'Oh no worries Mam, it was a regular car check up is all.' So I brushed it off as nothing. He was about 5'10" didn't stand out much." She was obviously disappointed that she didn't pay more attention to this man.

"Is that all Officer Cox," Gates asked her

"Yes sir," Cox then exited Gates' office.

"Yo!" Esposito's phone had just rang

"Ok, yeah, thank you." He hung up

"Ok, well the plot thickens. CSU found that there had been a signal blocker on the radio. Therefore explaining why they didn't go to the new address." Esposito explained to Ryan and Gates

"Son of a bitch, they really planned everything out!" Gates continued.

"They ran the car for any prints, fibers, hair. All they found were Beckett's and Castle's hair and prints. As for the fibers we'll have to analyse them but it'll be hard to distinguish them from Beckett and Castle's. These guys really thought of everything. I don't know why they're after Castle and Beckett but I know that they're in deep trouble." Esposito said.

Everyone was getting more and more worried. What had they gotten themselves into?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

The car ride seemed to take forever. After a 20 minutes ride, they finally arrived at the new destination. Beckett was trying to listen for any sound, traffic, boats, anything that would give her an idea, where they might be. Were they still in Manhattan? Had they left the island?

The sounds were all distant and hard to distinguish. She was trying to figure them out but couldn't. She hoped that Castle was doing the same thing. They walked for about 5 minutes, in what seemed to be a warehouse. They were then lifted of their clothe like bags, the light was so bright that it hurt their eyes, they had basically been in the dark for the last 30 minutes. At least this place was lit. They could now confirm that they were in some kind of warehouse. They continued walking and were placed in an old cell, the men closed the door and locked it behind them. This cell was small, dingy, and humid. It wasn't what we'd call 'clean' but at least they weren't tied up anymore.

Castle was in immense pain, he grimaced every time he moved.

"How are you Castle? They seemed to have hit you pretty bad" Beckett knew that these men knew where to hit.

She lifted his shirt to look at the damages. His chest was completely bruised.

"My god Castle, this is pretty bad. They might have fractured a rib" She slid her fingers on his left side. "Yah Castle this is bad" she was being gentle not wanting to hurt him.

"Why Beckett, you're liking this too much." Castle was trying to lighten the mood, Beckett was clearly worried.

An instant smile appeared on her face

"Shut up Castle!" they laughed it off.

She tied his shirt back up. She got up and she tried looking out the window, unfortunately it was frosted. She then started taking her shoe off

"What are you doing Beckett?" Castle was confused

"The window, it's frosted. I'll try and break it with my heal, it should do the trick." Beckett took her shoe off, she tried hitting her heal in the corner of the window. That way she won't bring to much attention to themselves. She wanted to get a view of where they were.

She started hitting the window,

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"What? What's wrong?" Castle wondered.

"This damn window, it's a bullet proof! I won't be able to break it! Damn!" Beckett had no idea what else she could do.

She sat down next to Castle, trying to figure out what to do next.

"Beckett I've got to tell you something," Castle was now getting ready to let her in on what he had discovered.

"This document, it deals with old mafia affairs dated from the 60'S. It has to do with Edgar Flemming. He-"

"Edgar Flemming, the mob-guy? I thought he was caught and sent to prison in the mid-sixties!"

"Actually he was never arrested, the police back then was so corrupted that they told the media what they wanted to hear." Castle went on,

"You see there were several warehouses in Lower Manhattan that were built in the 70's. Much like this one. These were being built while the 'new' Flemming was still in the streets although he was supposed to be in prison. Although it was kept a secret at the time, the 'Flemming killings' were still going on. He had changed his method , that way no attention would be drawn on him. This time he found a new way to dispose of his bodies he-"

Beckett interrupted him

"Ok so you mean to tell me that Flemming was never actually incarcerated? It was all staged? Come on Castle this isn't one of your books"

"I did some research on the matter, I looked at old archives, they filmed him arriving at the courthouse, but his face was covered. So we never really saw him. Like I said, Flemming could have easily paid a few cops to get the job done. They'd use another man as bait and that would be it. While observing the footage, I noticed something," he looked at Beckett with a witty smile.

"What?"

"Well when I looked at the footage, the man portraying Flemming was much taller. Flemming was a small man. He'd been about 5'6" and the fake Flemming was easily 5'10"."

"Ok Castle how can you tell how tall the man was?"

"Well I looked at the info with the archives, it mentioned the officer that had arrested him a certain Det. Yeller. Well Turns out Mr. Yeller was 5'10" therefore Flemming would have been a lot shorter, but this guy was Yeller's height. Therefore Flemming wasn't really arrested.

Beckett was kind of impressed by all this, not only did he omit this information before but it was plausible.

"Ok but why is it such a big deal? I mean it happened thirty some years ago, big deal."

"Well actually that's what it is. All his _new_ victims, well those that occurred after his _arrest_ none of them were found. None, zero, nada, ziltch!"

"Ok, so...maybe it's because he hasn't killed since then"

"Oh no Beckett it's better than that, you'll never guess how he disposed of these bodies" Castle was excited to see that he had completely surprised Beckett with this. She knew that he had found this document, but she didn't know that he had done so much research with it.

"Why didn't you tell me about it before?" she was a bit bitter about it.

"Well, I was kind of keeping it to myself, I've had to do a lot before coming up with all this." Castle said as he frowned in pain.

"Ok, so how did he dispose of these bodies?" Beckett was trying to understand all this. She was kind of mad that he had kept this to himself, but she figured she'd be mad later. Now they had to get out of there.

"Well from what I've been able to deduct, he had friends in construction..." He gave a look that Beckett knew too well, a 'you'll freak out when you figure it out look.'

"Oh no, don't tell me..." Beckett was disgusted at the idea.

"Yep, the bodies were crushed and dumped in the concrete, right into the soiling. Nowhere to be found or seen."

Castle and Beckett looked at each other, then the floor. They both got up at the thought that they might be sitting on corpses.

"Ahhh!" Castle immediately screamed in excruciating pain. He grabbed his left rib and leaned on the wall.

"Ok, I get why they don't want anyone to find out about this. Once it's out, we'll be able to track down at least 50 people that could have been involved" Beckett went on,

"If all these names come out, the Flemming clan will be back on everyone's lips. Old corrupted cops' name will appear in these reports, I'm sure these cops don't want any of it to come out." Beckett was disgusted by cops who had become corrupted. This was close to home for her she had been betrayed by her former police instructor Micheal Royce. She had once been in love with him as a rookie, to find out that he later became the type of cop that she hated so.

"That's right Det. Beckett we don't want anyone to find this out!" a man said from behind the closed door.

The man opened the door, as he walked through, Castle recognised him. He tried to remember where he had seen him before,

"Mister Yeller," Castle said as he had the image of the archives in his head. He saw a younger Yeller but he still looked the same.

He was tall, had black greyish hair. His eyes were almost black, he had somewhat of a dark tan. He had a harsh voice probably due to tobacco. This man clearly smoked, his skin was worn out, he was tanned but his skin was gross looking.

Beckett turned at Castle then looked back at Yeller

"Yes, Mr. Castle you are right. Guilty as charged." As he smile at him

"Det. Beckett would you follow me please," Yeller asked her.

Beckett and Castle looked at each other, it was her turn...she didn't know what to expect.

"You've just heard us, this is all we know," Castle insisted.

"No I think that you are hiding more and I need to know exactly how much more you know," Yeller grabbed Beckett by the arm.

She hadn't put her shoe back on properly, she twisted her ankle in the process.

"I knew you'd try to break the window, I got it changed special, just for you." Yeller said letting her put her back on properly, they started heading out.

"NO! Take me she doesn't know anything! I'm the one who did the research ask me!" Castle was desperate she knew nothing, she _had_ nothing to say because she didn't know about it.

He grabbed her and closed the door behind them.

"TAKE ME!" Castle wanted out, he didn't want them to hurt her, _he's_ the one that dug it up not her...what could he do...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Castle was trying to think straight, what could he do? What are they doing her? He analysed the room but there wasn't anything he could do, this room had been 'cleaned'. He was completely unuseful...this was driving him crazy.

*back at the precinct*

"We got something, we have a witness that might have seen Beckett and Castle being taken this morning." Ryan had received a phone call, the witness was coming up.

"Hi Molly, I'm Det. Javier Esposito this is my partner Det. Kevin Ryan, now tell us from the beginning what you saw."

"Well I was having my coffee and just looking out the window when I saw a police car pull up. There was a man and a woman, they seemed to be waiting for people. The woman appeared to feel uneasy,she pulled out her weapon. The next thing I knew, they were lying there on the ground. I know I should have called before but you know how it is, I decided to mind my own business." She could see that Esposito was irritated by this affirmation but he tried to put on a straight face and continued listening.

" A few minutes later I decided to check if they were still there, but they were gone. I figured other cops might have taken them and brought them to their respective precinct. The one thing that did strike me was that the patrol car was still there. If their colleagues had taken them back in, why did they leave the car?"

"Ok, did you see the man that took the car? If, so could you describe him?" Ryan hoped that she might have seen this guy. But, she described the same man that Officer Cox had seen.

They were back at square one, now the only thing they knew was how it had happened.

"Did you see anything else?" Esposito asked

"Well, there's one thing that I found odd, which is why I decided to call. There was a white van pulled up about 2 hours later. Two men came out, they seemed to be looking for something. One of them climbed the fire escape, when he came back down he had was looked like a tranquilizer gun." Molly explained,

"I know what these guns look like because I used to work in a zoo as a student job. We needed them for any big animals, I can tell them apart from other guns."

Esposito and Ryan knew that this was exactly what they needed.

"Could you describe these two men?" Ryan asked nervously, he needed this to be a lead.

"The man that went up the fire escape was younger he had a shaved head, he was dressed in black, and he wore sunglasses. He seemed to be aged between 30-40 years old. He seemed to be about 5'6"– 5'8". It's hard to say because I was far away, but I know that he was shorter than the other man. The other man seemed older, he had black greyish hair he must have been in his 60's. He was between 5'10" – 6'. He looked around making sure that everything was as it should be while smoking up a cigarette." Molly said this with a disgusted expression on her face, she hated the smell of those.

Ryan and Esposito looked at eachother, they might have something.

"Let's get CSU on the phone we'll go back to that spot, maybe the bastard let his guard down, just this once!" Esposito mentioned to Ryan.

"Thank you Ms. Howard, hopefully we'll be able to go forward from here." Esposito shook her hand.

"Please, call me Molly." She smiled back at Javier, she obviously found him of her liking.

He smiled and showed her to the elevator.

*Back at the warehouse*

Beckett had been gone a good twenty minutes, this waiting was eating him alive. The only thing that reassured him was that he couldn't hear any screams.

"Detective Beckett, I have to admit, you are absolutely beautiful." Yeller was standing disturbingly close to her. Beckett hated this.

Det. Beckett's hands were tied in her back. She was sitting in a chair waiting for the questions to begin. She had been sitting there for a while, probably trying to make her feel nervous/anxious but it didn't work. She was as solid as rock.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you but, I don't know anything." Beckett was trying to make it clear that she had no idea what this particular case was about.

"I know that you aren't as informed as I thought you were. Although, I have a deal for you. I cut you loose and you get rid of the documents with my name on it, it's a pretty good deal."

"In your dreams, I'm not going to conveniently get rid of those documents for you." Beckett wasn't about to change her fundamental beliefs to avoid a little beating.

" I am trying to do you a favour, maybe you could do the same. It would be to bad to bruise such a beautiful body." Yeller tried to persuade her into giving in

Kate looked at him, her look said it all. She gave him her 'don't try it, it's not going to work' look. Beckett was a stubborn woman and this man wasn't going to make her change her mind.

Mr. Yeller looked at her, smiled and said: "Ah well that's too bad "

Yeller looked over her shoulder, and nodded. A man turned up behind her. He pulled her up from her chair, it all started looked to familiar to her. Instead of a second man coming to hold her tight, he brought her a wall, where he tied her up to a pipeline that was parallel to it.

"Now Detective Beckett this is your last chance,"

"Not a chance jackass!"

Yeller looked at the short man.

"Bello, do what you've got to do." Yeller order the man.

Bello was heading toward Beckett and punched her directly in the stomach. She let out a scream she had the wind knocked out of her.

"What else do you know about this case Kate, I know that you have some insight on the matter."

"I think that I have nothing to say." Kate didn't want to talk too much, she knew that Castle was on to something else and she didn't want to blow his cover.

"As you wish Detective."

Bello hit her in the rib, she screamed from the pain. The pain was so intense that her knees gave in. Her screams echoed in the warehouse.

Castle was sitting in the cell and her screams came to his ear. Chills were coming down his spine, Castle suddenly had the urge to bang on the door. He wanted them to stop hitting her, take him instead! He grew impatient to having her back by his side. He never thought that this case was going to lead them here. Hiding all of this from her had been stupid. He should have left it alone, but the writer in him made him do what he did best, research. But this research was now killing him inside. He never wanted it to get to this point.

Yeller was still trying to convince Beckett otherwise. He insisted for another 5 minutes. She retaliated with insults saying that she'll never become a corrupted cop, no matter what. Yeller's patience was at its maximum. She kept her head high and never overcame his influence. He was insulted by her strength, he was outraged. He was completely fired up and his hand flew across Beckett's face right over her left cheekbone. This blow to the head stung but she managed to look back at him, as though seeing him this pissed gave her strength to take some more.

"TAKE HER BACK TO THE CELL!" Yeller ordered Bello

Bello untied her and brought her back to Castle.

As the door opened Castle jumped to his feet.

Beckett flew in the cell Bello had pushed her in. She landed in Castle's arms

He slammed the door behind him and locked the door.

"Oh my God Beckett," Castle ran his figures on her left cheek.

"I'm fine Castle, that was a good hit. Yeller lost his temper, I know how to get to him now."

She was in pain but she was happy that she got him mad.

Beckett briefly told Castle what had happened. Castle was glad that she omitted details about what he had told her earlier. He had more to say on the subject, but it was to be discussed later. Now all he wanted to do is make sure she was alright.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ryan and Esposito were looking for new clues, they were looking for something that might stand out, but they had nothing, Esposito suddenly flinched.

"Hey! Did you call Castle's daughter or mother?" Esposito had just realised that he hadn't called Matha or Alexis to tell them what had happened.

"Uh-no...damn I completely forgot! I'll call them right away" Ryan started dialling Castle's home phone number.

Alexis was looking at college applications with her Gram, she was trying to figure out where to apply. Of course Stanford was still in the run but she wasn't solely applying there, she wanted to have options.

"Maybe Princeton, if I can't get into Stanford. Although.." Alexis was cut off by the sound of the phone.

"I'll get it." Martha got up and figured it would be a lot faster since Alexis was drowning in all these application forms

"Hello," Martha answered with her usual cheerful voice. It was obvious that she was the proudest Gram in the world right now.

"Hello Ms. Rogers. It's Det. Kevin Ryan, I'm afraid that I have some unfortunate news for you," Ryan hated making these calls, especially when it involved Castle. His family wasn't suppose to face these types of situations.

"What happened to Richard?" Her cheerful voice had become a concerned and worried one.

"Well, all we know for now is that he and Det. Beckett have been kidnapped for some unknown reason. We're trying to figure it out Mam, we really are. We'll give you a call as soon as something comes up." Ryan felt extremely guilty dropping this bomb on her, because he knew how hard it must be to hear.

"Thank-you Det. Ryan." She hung up, what had started out as a cheerful and beautiful day had become one of worries.

Alexis' college applications were no longer important, all she could think of was her father. She hated that he tagged along with the police. She loved Beckett and the guys but it was the 'putting himself in danger' everyday that she hated. He was a writer not a cop. Even though she had told him how much she hated it, he still tagged along, he loved the thrill and loved being with Beckett.

"Man I hate making these calls!" Ryan got up and started pacing...they had no leads and he was trying to think about what they might have left out.

_Think like Castle...maybe that'll work_.

Ryan had learned throughout the years to think like Castle, sometimes his weird theories helped them greatly.

Ryan was going through different ideas in his head, security cameras in that area were undergoing repairs so noting was being recorded. Then it hit him.

"Hey did you call for security cameras in that area?"

"I did but, as you know, they're being updated and repaired so nothings being recorded." Esposito replied still looking at the files on his desk trying to come up with some other idea.

"There aren't any on that particular street but, a bloc further there is. They haven't been updated yet. We know that the two men were in a white van right?"

"Yeah..."Esposito sensed that Ryan was up to something, he took his eyes off what he was looking at and listened attentively.

"Well all we have to do is look at the security cameras. We have an approximate time so we can go from there. We can follow the van, maybe it'll lead us to where Castle and Beckett are."He waited for Espositos' response.

"Let's go!" Esposito picked up his phone

They started making calls. They mentioned the exact corner they were looking for. Within the hour they received the videos.

"Ryan, Really? Great! " He hung up

"We got lucky man, that was CSU, the man that Ms. Howard mentionned, you know the one that smoked! Well turns out he left us a nice little DNA sample. His name is Jerome Yeller, he was the man that arrested Edgar Flemming, a mobster, in the 60's. Yeller was the detective in charge of the case at the time. They sent me more info on my e-mail" Ryan opened his e-mail for more details. He finally saw the face of the man responsible for Beckett and Castles' disappearing. He turned his computer screen to show Esposito.

"Ok, but, what was he doing getting a hold of Beckett and Castle?" Esposito questioned.

Both men looked at each other wondering what the hell was going on.

"Why would a retired cop get a hold of Beckett and Castle by tranquilizing them, if he wanted some info, why not just ask?." Ryan was thinking out loud.

"What was the man working on exactly? We know that he worked on the Flemming case but what exactly was it?" Esposito started going through the database, hoping to get some information that dated from that time. Nothing popped up, these cases were probably too old to have been put on here.

"Listen I'll take a look at the security cameras while you go to Archives. It'll go faster like this."

"On it." Ryan was already on his way to the elevator and heading to the archives.

Esposito had been looking at the tape for about 10 minutes, when, there it was, the white van. He tried following the van with the recordings that he had gotten but he couldn't follow it all the way to its destination. He had to call back to get a technician to do it for him. Now that he had an exact timeline it was easy for the technician to follow up on the van. Within, 5 minutes he had an address.

He wrote the address down and headed for the elevator. He was calling Ryan to let him know what he got.

"Ryan." He said while the elevator doors opened in front of him

"Hey," both men looked at each other and hung up.

"I got an address! Let's go! So uh-where's the document?" Esposito asked noticing that Ryan was empty handed.

"Um about that," said Ryan as they headed down the elevator. "Turns out the file was taken out a few weeks ago but no one brought it back. They didn't report it since it dated from the 60's and the case had been closed."

The two men headed to their patrol car, turned on the sirens and headed to their lead. While they headed to their destination they called for back-up if anything should happen they needed them there. They were heading to an old abandoned warehouse in Lower Manhattan. It had been closed for about 20 years from the looks of it.

"Ready?" asked Esposito

"Let's go!" Ryan confirmed

They both got out of the car, put on their bullet proof vest and headed in. They kicked in the door. The place was pretty dark, they moved between the old boxes and wooden crates. They could see in the distance two chairs. They approached them with cautiousness, having each others' back. They got to the chairs, who were now empty. They could see that they had been tied up because there was cut up rope on the ground.

The two men continued looking around, after about 20 minutes they knew that the warehouse was empty

"No one's here! They changed place, " Ryan concluded

They headed back to where the two chairs had been left. Esposito and Ryan started looking around to see if they could spot anything odd. Of course, they'd get CSU to sweep the place just to be sure they didn't miss out on anything.

"What the-" Esposito picked up a piece of paper.

"Hey Ryan, look at this." He untwined the piece of paper from the ground, he looked at it and looked back at Ryan.

"Castle's doddle, they were definitely here!" Ryan was both relieved and worried. They had left this place safe and sound, but where the hell were they now?

"Castle's being smart, he's letting us know they were here. Although by now they could be anywhere." Esposito looked at Ryan, they both knew that he was right, they could be anywhere by now.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The door to their cell opened. They were both shocked by what they saw, they were giving them food? Well if they could call it that! It looked like oatmeal, but it was drowning in water. It was like an oatmeal soup. Bello left the two plates on the floor and closed the door behind him.

"What _is_ that?" Castle said with a disgusted look on his face.

"Looks like oatmeal," she raised her shoulders, in a 'so what' manner, picked it up and smelled it. Castle was surprised that she actually did that.

"What?" Beckett asked Castle...she was hungry, that bear claw was long gone form her stomach.

"Go ahead, I wouldn't want you to have low blood sugar, now would I?" We both know how that'll finish" Castle said with a cornered smile. But he was right if Beckett was hungry she'd get cranky.

"Funny Castle, really." said Beckett sarcastically, obviously she _was_ hungry.

She picked up the spoon that was set beside the plate. She dipped it in and took a small bite. She wanted to see if it was edible, she wasn't _that_ hungry. But it was indeed oatmeal so she started eating it.

Castle was looking at her in admiration, he didn't know how she could possibly eat this...it was gross. But he also didn't want to deal with a cranky Beckett, she had clearer thoughts when her belly was full.

She took the last spoonful and she seemed satisfied to have some food in her.

"What?" she asked, while putting her plate back on the floor.

Castle was looking at her strangely

"Nothing, you will always surprise me Katerine Beckett." He answered with a smile "Never thought you'd actually eat that. But I'm glad you did I wouldn't want a cranky Katie."

Beckett looked at him, a faint smile appeared on her lips, she knew irritated she got in when she was hungry so, she said nothing.

"How are you feeling?" Castle was still worried about her wellbeing. Her cheekbone was swelled lightly.

"It stings a little but I should survive Castle." She smiled back at him.

Her body was aching she had trouble breathing but she could manage. Castle's bruised rib certainly seemed to hurt more.

"What about you? How are you holding up?" Beckett could tell that he was in pain but he was trying to hide it.

Beckett and Castle were leaning against the wall; they still had the image of possible bodies lying beneath them. Beckett was pacing the room, her brain was obviously going 100mph.

"What's on your mind Beckett?"

"I'm just wondering where Esposito and Ryan are on our whereabouts. I have no idea where we are and I hate that! If we keep moving it'll be impossible for them to find us." Kate was obviously preoccupied by all this. She trusted her team but she knew how cautious these men had been.

The lock from their door clicked, they both turned around and spun toward the door.

"Road trip," Bello said, letting their clothed like bags hanging from his hand. He smiled at them, he knew that they didn't like this.

Beckett and Castle looked at each other, this wasn't good, it wasn't good at all.

They put on the attire and were escorted to the car. This ride was shorter than the previous one, they were in the car for about 10 minutes. Beckett was going through areas where they might actually be. She knew that they were still in the NY area. But the possibilities were still infinite.

"I have the videos of the warehouse , we can look at the coming and going of these guys and follow them back to their new destination. The guys saw Beckett and Castle getting into the warehouse at approximately 9:30 am. They had come around the warehouse at around 1:00pm therefore they were moved in this time span. Esposito and Ryan were looking attentively, then they noticed something odd. The time on the camera read 11:30.

"What the hell?" Esposito couldn't believe what he was seeing. He continued watching.

Five identical SUV's appeared on the screen, five different sets of hostages came out of the warehouse, all having one man and one woman. These guys knew they were being filmed so they made sure no one would find them.

"Mother-f-" Esposito was outraged, he put his hands on his head, this case was getting insane.

"This guy, he wants to hide something really badly!" Ryan replied completely shocked

"Get security camera techs in here, they want to play this game, so will we." Esposito was going to look at all the cameras and follow all of them.

All the SUV's were all heading in the same direction, then...

"I...wha...man I need to take a break." Esposito was getting crazy at least twenty other vehicles joined the ones that they were following all intertwining each other, making it impossible to spot the original ones.

Sorting all of these out was going to take hours, and he knew too well that Gates would never allow the precinct to stop breathing to find Beckett, not now anyway.

Beckett and Castle got out of the car, they were escorted into the building much like the two previous occasions. They were put in a room it looked like a restraining room, much like those seen in psych wards. The room was white, and the paint was peeling off this was most likely an old hospice hospital.

Beckett's brain was trying to remember what old hospice hospital might have closed it the past 20 years. Even Castle was thinking about something, they were looking in each others' eyes, as though looking for the answer. After a few minutes they both rolled up their eyes, neither of them had any idea where they might be.

"OMG this is so frustrating! If only they stopped moving us I could try and figure it out!" Beckett hated not having control of the situation.

"Well at least they're not beating the hell out of us, well for now." Castle was still in pain but he seemed to be getting used to it.

"Let me take a look, I just want to be sure that it's not getting worse," Beckett told Castle while walking toward him.

"Just admit it Beckett, you want to see me shirtless, I know it, you know it. Come on, take it off." He said while walking toward her. He stretched his arms by his side so _she_ would take it off.

"Come on Castle, I'm serious."

But Castle stayed in the same position,

"Make me proud Kate, be gentle, it does hurt a little." He closed his eyes

After a few seconds of him waiting he opened his eyes.

"Go on Kate don't be shy, I'm not" As he said so, Beckett blushed a little, and he then again closed his eyes. She rolled her eyes but she couldn't hold back a smile.

She started unbuttoning his shirt to take a look at his ribs,

"Beckett, stop it, I'm liking this, too much" he said with a smirk, he loved playing like this, it was part of his charm.

She bit her lip, she'd never admit it but she liked Castle and she liked unbuttoning his shirt. She opened his shirt and caressed his rib. Castle was still in pain because his reaction was spontaneous. But the kept still. The bruised rib seemed to be under control. It hadn't swollen more, but if he'd have another beating it would become much worse.

"What? That's it?" Castle opened his eyes in disappointment, Kate was buttoning his shirt.

"Your rib is fine for now, but if they hit you again Castle it might break." Castle saw the distress in her eyes.

He pulled her close, looked her in the eyes. "Don't worry Kate I'll be fine."

"How do you know? Castle, if they break your rib it might puncture your lung," her eyes widened when told him, the thought of it scared her.

They were in the middle of nowhere, and the fact that they kept moving around diminished their chances of being found.

The door of their room opened. From what Beckett could see, the sun was setting it must be around 6:00pm. Bello dropped the oatmeal on the floor and walked out.

This time Castle took the oatmeal too, he was starving this was going to do the job. Beckett looked at him as he devoured the oatmeal, she smiled.

"What?" he said with a mouthful of oatmeal

"Nothing," she said, she found Castle adorable. She picked up her bowl and ate it, she was getting hungry again.

Once they both finished their plates they left it on the floor.

"Hey I have an idea," Castle said,

"Really? What?" she said, thinking he might have an idea of where they were.

The door re-opened, they both feared the worst, one of them was going for questioning, but whom? This time a taller man came in, it wasn't Bello. He took the plates, and gave them some water. Bello came in, behind him and took out some beer. They were confused and looked at each other they had no idea what was going on.

"Yeller says it's on the house and that maybe you'll reconsider sharing some information after."

Bello left, leaving the 6 beers behind.

"Why Det. Beckett may I interest you in an alcoholic beverage?" Castle said while handing it over.

Beckett hesistated

"What the hell," She took it

"So yeah, my idea, it's going to be even better now with this beer," he said with a flirty smile

"What?" she looked at him wondering what crazy idea he had now

"Well it's like truth or dare."

"Come on Castle, we're adults here. No need for teenage games." She repiled, although she was somewhat tempted.

"Come on Beckett, I'm bored," He gave her his puppy eyes, he was obviously trying to make her change her mind. What? The man was bored!

"Fine," she said, while chugging a mouthful of beer. She knew it wouldn't end well…but smiled nonetheless.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After the beer Beckett was already feeling it, she hadn't eaten much and she felt its effect. Even Castle was starting to feel sluggish.

"Ok, truth or dare?" Beckett asked Castle

"Umm..dare!" Castle looked at her with his little evil, 'dare me' eyes.

"Ok I dare you to take off your shirt and twirl it around, while running in the room ahha! Yeah that should be funny!" Beckett needed to be humoured a little, she knew Castle had plenty of tricks to make her laugh so, she decided to take the matters in her hands

"Oh Detective, you want to start playing that game now, do you?" Castle knew too well what his next dare was going to be, oh she'd get a taste of her own medicine.

Castle came close to her and, started unbuttoning his shirt slowly. He looked in her eyes, the eyes that he loved so much. He was acting along but he honestly and sincerely wanted her, he continued gazing into her eyes. Her laughing had become a more discrete and indulging smile. It was slowly drifting away, this was no longer a funny matter. His gazing eyes were looking deeply into hers something was building up between them. Castle had finished unbuttoning his shirt but he stood there, looking into her eyes.

He gently slid his hand on the side of her face. She couldn't move she was completely absorbed by it all. His blue eyes looking deep into hers, she'd never admit it but he had grown on her over the past few years. She had gotten used to having him around. Kate loved being with him, he made her feel safe. A feeling she hadn't had in years, looking into his eyes right now felt right at home.

"Truth or dare?" he whispered quietly, still gazing into her eyes.

Without even thinking she said

"Dare." She unconsciously bit her lip, which gave her away.

"Kiss me," Castle said, for a split second he looked down at her lips, then back to her eyes, Castle had longed for these lips for so long. He had once locked his with hers and the thought of it brought chills to his body.

She leaned in, his hand still on her face. She pulled him closer, grabbed his already unbuttoned shirt and tugged him. She leaned in for the kiss, and gave in. Her lips pressed against his. They had both wanted this moment to happen. She then gently pulled away.

She looked back and him,

"My turn again." She said. She pushed him aside gently, got two beers, opened them and gave him one.

"Oh Detective Beckett, this promises for some fun," he said while lifting his eyebrow.

Ryan and Esposito were still looking at the videos, they had noticed something, one of the cars' hostages seemed to have something white sticking out of their pocket. With all this enhancing they could see more detail.

"That's Castle, it's his doddle, he's purposely using it to lead us on," Ryan said

It might have sounded farfetched but it's all they had for now. With this enhancing they could make out the licence plates. They had been able, after several hours to distinguish exactly which one to follow. They finally got the address of the second location, and headed out.

"They're already gone! I know it!" Ryan wasn't usually negative but he knew too well.

"Damn!" as they pulled to the warehouse they knew, several tracks were seen on the ground they had lost them, again.

They headed inside the building, they looked around. As they walked through the warehouse, they noticed something different. They saw that Beckett and Castle hadn't been tied up this time, they had seen a cut rope at the foot of a pipeline but nothing else. There were three chairs in a small circle, they deducted that they were three men involved.

"They were held in some other room, try and find it!" There were about 10 cops scooping around the warehouse.

"Detective Ryan, we found something." Said one of the officers.

They went into the room where Beckett and Castle had been earlier.

"We noticed something strange, the window has been changed recently and, it's a bullet proof window sir."

"Ok thank you officer. Damn, they knew that she'd try and break it. That she might be able to find out where she was therefore giving us clues."

"Sir," a CSU technician gave Esposito a piece of paper,

"I found it on the floor, sir"

Another piece of doddle. Meaning that he might have done the same thing as before.

"Let's go we've got to take a look at those videos" Esposito said

They both headed back to the precinct.

Beckett and Castle had almost finished their second beer. They were flirting back and forth daring each other with more osé thrills.

"Hey I thought you had more stuff to tell me about this case Castle." Beckett mentioned, she didn't want this to get too far.

Castle was taken by surprise, they were having fun now, weren't they?

"Beckett come on, I thought we were having fun here," he looked at her with puppy eyes.

"Well we are but, wouldn't you like this to happen when we're not being held hostage?"

"Oh you want something to happen huh? I knew you couldn't resist me detective." He said, wanting to make her blush and it worked. He smiled, gently.

He had to agree, it wasn't the ideal place or time for this, but he had hope for it when this was done.

He took a deep breath and started.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Ok so, Flemming..." Castle started saying, the door opened. They weren't on alert since they had been spared for a while.

"Get up, both of you. Turn around. Frank take the girl, I got him." Bello ordered Frank, the third man involved.

"Uh-what's up? Are we on the move again?" Castle questioned.

"You don't ask questions, you do what we say!" Bello wasn't as friendly as the previous times. He was talking serious business.

Beckett looked at Castle with worried eyes, this was it. This was the moment they thought they had escaped.

It was around 7:00pm, Esposito and Ryan had been looking at the videos, they weren't surprised to see that these men had tried a similar diversion. This time they knew what to look for.

"Hmmm, ok now let's find our sign, we're looking for something white in a pocket guys" Esposito had 5 different screens with techs looking for their clue.

"I hope they stop changing places cause Castle's going to run out of doddle man!" Ryan said, with a smile, but a worried look.

Esposito agreed and started looking at the screens.

They analysed the videos for about 30 minutes, all the enhancing took time.

"I've got something," one of the techs yelled out.

Both Esposito and Ryan ran toward the screen to examine it.

"That's it! Got it!" Esposito yelled out.

Both men ran into Gates' office.

"Sir we might have a new lead, we think we'll find them there!" Ryan explained to Gates

"Don't waste time explaining this to me, go get her" gates wasn't liking the fact that they had taken one of her people hostage.

Beckett and Castle had been brought in a low lit room. They were sitting on a chair, their feet and hands were tied.

"What do you want Yeller?" Beckett was playing cop, she was trying to figure out why this case was such a big deal.

"Well that's a good question now isn't Detective Beckett!" Yeller was starting in intimidate Castle. Castle had a really bad feeling about this. The writer in him didn't like it.

Bello and Frank reappeared, they were dragging had some kind of, Castle couldn't make it out

_A bath? Why the hell are they...oh no...no no no..._

Castle had done torture scenes before in his books and this wasn't looking good, not good at all.

Bello grabbed Beckett. She was fighting back but it was no use, once Frank got mixed in, she couldn't do anything she _was_ tied up.

They dragged her to the bath. This bath was pretty gross, it hadn't been used in years. They had cut it out of its original location and had patched the holes.

They put her in the bath, she was scared but didn't let it show. She was a tough gal but this wasn't what she had imagined.

_Where the hell are Esposito and Ryan? How the hell are they going to find us? _

Her head was going 100mph. Beckett was trying to find out what was going to happen, and there it was. Bello had a cart of ice cubes, there must have been at least 20bags...she knew what was coming.

"Woow, woow, what are you going to do with that? You know you have way too much ice for drinks, we've had our alcohol intake for the night, we're good!" Castle was saying in a distress voice.

"Mr. Castle, you're not telling us what we want to hear so...we'll try and find it out the hard way." Yeller said, he was trying to get to him by attacking his weak spot, Beckett.

Beckett looked at Castle, her eyes said it all. 'I'll be fine don't say anything!'

Castle's heart skipped a beat. He knew things but he didn't want to put her life in danger.

He looked back at her, and mouthed "are you sure?"

To which she nodded a _yes._

" So Mr. Castle, where were we?" Yeller was starting his interrogation.

"Oh yes, what did you find out in the reports?" Yeller asked knowing that the writer had had it easy earlier today.

"Like I said I didn't get the chance to look more into it," Castle lied, but if he talked more then he might put his family in danger

"Ah well that's too bad, I thought you liked your girl-friend" Yeller said, giving Bello the signal.

Belle opened two bags of ice and poured it onto Beckett. It was cold but she could handle it. This ice was cold but she was fine, she wasn't drowning in it. Then Frank came in behind her and poured cold water into the bath.

From Becketts' facial expression Castle knew it was cold.

"So again Mr. Castle, what did you find?" Yeller was being very imposing. He was determined to keep his identity secret, he'd do anything to keep it that way. Even kill a detective.

Castle saw Beckett's lips turn blue, this water was frozen. If he didn't give him what he wanted she'll be in hypothermia in a few minutes...

"I..I..." Castle didn't want to risk losing her again, he had almost lost her once. Kate looked at him mouthing _I'm ok, I'm fine._

"I told you I haven't gotten around to looking further into this case." Castle said, but he wasn't convincing anyone, he kept looking over at Beckett.

"Fine if you say so," Yeller looked at Bello, he re-opened two other bags and dropped it into the bathtub.

Beckett was surrounded by ice cubes at this point she already had water up to her chest, breathing was getting harder. She was trembling from the cold. Castle was getting worried, what he had found out wasn't worth losing her.

"So Mr. Castle are you sure that you didn't look further into this case?" Yeller saw his desperation.

Castle was trying to think straight, but he couldn't. He was a writer, he wasn't trained for this.

"Tick toc , your little friend here is getting cold." Yeller was trying to pressure Castle into giving him the infomation that he wanted.

Castle looked over, Beckett's eyes were closing. Her trembling was getting worst, she was losing consciousness.

Beckett felt herself drifting in and out on consciousness, she had trouble breathing, she was so cold. She felt her heartbeat slowing down.

"NYPD! Get the hell away from them!" Esposito yelled out. They had figured it out, Castle's trick had worked.

As the three men turned around to retaliate with their guns, they were already surrounded by a swat team.

"Cuff'em!" Ryan said to members of the swat team. Once the men were cuffed and no one was in danger Esposito ran toward Beckett.

"Call an ambulance Ryan, now" Esposito said while running toward Beckett.

When he got to her she was unconscious, he lifted her out of the tub. He took off his jacket and put it around her.

"Beckett, stay with me. We got you! ." Esposito was trying to make her regain consciousness.

"They're on the way!" Ryan yelled back at Esposito

"A little help here please," Castle said. He was still tied up.

"Put my jacket on her legs, cover her up!" Castle was obviously worried, she was still unconscious.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Beckett was waking up, she had no memory of what had happened. She started looking around to try and figure out where she was, after what seemed to be forever she finally focused on the room. She could hear machines beeping, as she turned to her left side she saw the machines she was hooked on.

_Am I in a hospital? What happened?_

As she was gazing around when she looked to her right, there he was...Castle was sleeping in an armchair beside her. From what she could see he had been sitting there for a while. There were two trays, on a small table, they seemed to come from the hospital's cafeteria.

She looked at him sleep for about 5 minutes, but then he woke-up.

"Kate?" He moved in towards her, taking her hand gently.

" How are you feeling?" Castle asked with great relief. He had been so scared that she might die. He couldn't have lived with himself if it had happened.

"Castle, how long have I been here?" Beckett asked with a faint whisper. She was still weak from the hypothermia.

"We got here, last night. You had moderate-severe hypothermia. If Esposito hadn't taken you out of the bath right away you might have suffered heart failure." Castle's was teary eyed, he had been so afraid to lose her again.

"Castle..." She knew that he honestly felt guilty for all that had happened.

"Kate, I...I was so afraid to lose you. I'm sorry..." Castle was getting emotional, looking down at his feet. His face showed his true feelings, he was overwhelmed by guilt.

Kate knew the guilt he felt, but right now she was just glad that it was all over. She lifted his head with her hand, so that he'd look at her.

"Castle, I'll be fine." Beckett told Castle with a small smile.

"Kate I..." Castle was trying to tell her how he felt, but it was hard he could barely take up the courage to tell her. He was so in love that if she'd reject him he wouldn't know what to do.

Beckett was looking in his eyes, she knew what he was trying to tell her, but this time she'd be conscious. She wanted to be sure that his feelings had remained to same. Looking at him trying to tell her how he felt killed her, she knew how hard it must be.

"Kate, I...I love you. I love you Kate." His face showed relief and fear all at once. He was relieved that he told her but now the ball was in her court. What if she didn't feel the same?

"Castle, I know." Beckett looked away she felt as though she had betrayed him, for she had lied to him all these months. Beckett took a deep breath and went on,

"I remember. I remember everything about the shooting," she came back to his blue eyes, she had a faint smile and saw that Castle seemed hurt, hurt that she had lied about remembering.

"But you said that-"

"I know I did Castle but I couldn't deal with it then. The fact that I knew how you felt made me doubt everything. Josh for one thing, I knew that I couldn't get what I wanted with Josh because..."Beckett was building the courage to tell him how she felt, something she had been hiding deep inside for so long.

"Because he wasn't you," Beckett looked away for a split second, her heartbeat had increased. She had finally told him how she felt.

Castle didn't know what to think at this point, he was relieved that she felt the same but why didn't she tell him before.

"Hey girl, you're up!" Lanie and Esposito had just walked in. As Castle and Beckett turned their way, Lanie knew that she had interrupted something.

"Oups, I didn't mean to interrupt, we can come back later..."Lanie felt bad but it was too late now.

"No it's fine," answered Castle, looking back at Beckett with a smile. They'd talk about it later, it was out there now.

Beckett and Castle filled in the blanks for the two.

"Hey bro, nice going with the doddle...If it weren't for that we would have never found you two!" Esposito said

"The doddle? What doddle?" Beckett had no idea what Esposito was talking about

"Ahh this," Castle took out a, what was now, a small piece of paper.

"The doddle that you were drawing out of boredom? You left it lying behind?" Beckett was surprised that he had done this, she wouldn't have thought about it.

"Ah yes detective, I thought that it might be my way of leaving breadcrumbs behind, I figured that I had nothing to lose doing so." Castle was proud that he had surprised Beckett with his wit.

"Ok? So what exactly did you do?" Beckett asked Castle, with an interrogation face.

"Well, now that you ask, I let a piece of it in the room where we were and then I let it stick out of my pocket when we were going into the car." Castle was so proud of his move,

"Lucky that you didn't get caught Castle! We could have been killed if you did!" Beckett was playing with him, she knew that it would make him react.

The expression on his face was priceless. He had a.. 'but...I...' expression.

Beckett then started laughing because she knew how naive Castle could be.

"Ah-ha-ha funny Beckett." Castle was hurt, but Beckett knew how to bring him back down to earth.

"Well, not that I don't enjoy watching you two, but we should go, we have dinner reservation," Lanie said while getting up.

Esposito and Castle shook hands while Beckett and Lanie hugged it out.

"Have fun at dinner guys," Castle yelled out.

As Lanie and Esposito exited the room, Castle looked toward Beckett and they smiled at each other.

Castle took her hand and they gazed in each others' eyes. They could almost communicate solely by looking at each other.

"Ms. Beckett, I'm Dr. Masson. I see that you seem to be feeling better." He took her chart and wrote down notes.

"From what I can see here everything is in order. You should be able to leave tomorrow morning. Hope you guys didn't have plans for the night." He winked at Castle and exited the room.

A few minutes later, there was a cart with some takeout food on it. I was Beckett's favourite, Chinese food.

Kate looked at Castle with a huge smile, she was completely smitten by all this.

"Castle you didn't have to do this." Beckett wasn't expecting this at all.

"Actually it wasn't just for you, I just couldn't bare eating hospital food anymore." Castle said with a disgusted face. "I don't know how people can eat this food."

Beckett rolled her eyes, she knew him too well, he was trying to make it look like he didn't put too much into this.

"Yeah I know Castle."

They both dug into the food. Beckett was surprisingly hungry.

"Thank you for this Castle." Beckett said smiling at him

"Always." Castle looked back at her, while taking another bite.

After they had eaten Castle had taken the remaining boxes and cleaned up. Kate was looking at him, she didn't know what the next step would be but she felt ready for it. Once Castle had picked everything he went back to sit beside Beckett.

"What?" Castle asked

"Nothing, I find it adorable that cleaned up," Beckett answered smiling.

Castle smiled back, taking Beckett's hand.

"Kate, I was wondering," castle paused

"Yeah?... What?"Kate wondered

"Would you do me the honour of having dinner with me? I know a great place "Chez Florence", I'm sure you'd love it." Castle asked Beckett. He felt nervous but he needed to do this he had wanted to for so long.

Beckett was somewhat shocked, but she knew that something like this would come up. She wanted something more with Castle. This time she answered with her heart, it had been saying yes for as long as she could remember. The woman in her was tired of fighting it.

"I'd love to." Beckett blushed while answering. Her heartbeat had increased slightly by his invitation, she had been wanting to do this for a long time..

"Ok then, the reservations are for Friday at 8:00, I'll pick you up around 7:30." Castle told her.

"You already have reservations?" Beckett couldn't help but smile, Castle smiled back with his charming grin.

"I thought I had nothing to lose, I could always just cancel if you didn't want to come. You know it's hard to get in a reservation there." Castle told her.

They looked in each others' eyes, Castle pulled the chair closer to the bed. He leaned in toward Beckett. He took her face in his hand, and continued looking at her, she was the most beautiful woman he had known. Her green eyes were sparkling and she was completely drawn in. He moved in toward her, pressed his lips against hers, they both completely gave in. Their lips were gently pressing one against the other. This was a gentle, yet passionate kiss. A slight moan came out, Beckett let it out unconsciously, she was completely absorbed by him, as he by her.

Castle gently pulled away, he looked at her and said "You should get some rest." He was starting to get up when Kate pulled him toward her.

"No, don't go. Stay, with me." She moved over slightly to make room in the single bed she was lying in so he could stay beside her, she felt safe with him.

He smiled and lay down beside her. He put his left arm over her head on the pillow, she pulled in toward him and rested her head on his chest. His heartbeat calmed her down, she felt complete.

Kate looked up at Castle and smiled.

"Good night Castle," she leaned in toward him and kissed him. She felt like she was a teenage girl kissing the most popular boy in school. She then rested her head on his chest and fell asleep a few minutes later.

Castle smiled lying on his back he loved that she had become so open this quickly. He was the happiest man in the world at this very moment. After a few minutes he too fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Beckett was getting ready for her date with Castle, but she had nothing to wear. She called up Lanie, maybe she'd have an idea. Lanie knew damn well that Beckett had nothing to wear, she loved her girl but all the dresses Beckett had, had been sold to her by girls on commission. All the dresses she had wouldn't cut it for a date with Castle, it was too prestigious.

"Girl, we gotta go shopping. There's nothing in here that'll help you for your date." Lanie was completely discouraged at the site of Beckett's clothing. Yeah her girl had style, but not for hot dates. "This is almost embarrassing ...really you need new clothes." Lanie was teasing her all the while being somewhat truthful.

Beckett looked back at her and gave her the evil eyes, but she knew that Lanie was right.

"Don't give me that look Kate, you know I'm right!" Beckett's eye stare might scare some people but not Lanie. Beckett looked back at her and smiled, it was one of the regular 'arguments' the two women had together, it was their way of being playful.

They were off shopping, Beckett liked being well dressed but the hassle of getting _the_ right dress, stressed her out. Luckily, Lanie was pretty good at it, she loved how liberated shopping made her feel.

After two hours of window shopping, trying on different dresses, nothing seemed to be good enough for her. She looked to puffy, to tall, to thin too something that she didn't like.

"AHH..I HATE THIS!" Nothing was nice enough for Beckett she wanted this to be perfect. She wanted to impress Castle, and she wanted him to be completely awe stricken.

"Fine! But you're being difficult, Kate, the last red dress was gorgeous. You looked awesome!" Lanie thought that most of the dresses Kate had tried on were perfect. But knowing Kate, if she didn't like she wouldn't get it.

"Okay, let's go..there's nothing for me in here!" Beckett was getting fed up of shopping, the fact that nothing seemed to suite her was getting exhausting.

Lanie followed her friend out of the store. They were walking by this boutique, a boutique that Kate would never stop in, it was way too fancy for her. But then, there it was the dress she had been waiting for all afternoon. It was just hanging there, on the boutique's back wall. As she looked at it she felt drawn toward it.

Lanie had no idea what was going on, she kept looking back and forth from Beckett to the area where she seemed to have spotted something.

"Oh, Kate, that's an-"

"I know, it's perfect."

Both women walked slowly toward the dress.

Kate picked it up and brought it the dressing room.

Lanie was waiting impatiently to see her friend in, one of the most beautiful dresses she had seen today. She knew that this would fit Kate perfectly.

Kate was a gorgeous woman with long curly hair that fell perfectly onto her face. Her dark green eyes hypnotized most of the people she met, one look could either kill or give out friendly advice. She was also tall and leggy which made most women jealous. Women felt intimidated by her stature and beauty. Kate wasn't solely beautiful she was an honest person with a beautiful heart. She was a tough but great cop, all her cases were dealt with as if she was personally involved , making her one of NY's best detective.

When Kate came out of the dressing room, Lanie just stood there, her mouth practically opened.

"Wow," is all Lanie could bring herself to say.

"So? What do you think?" with the reaction Lanie had Kate knew that this was the one, it was perfect.

The dress was dark purple, it had a v-shaped top, that seem to attach at the neck. The v-neck gave her breasts a little lift giving her perfect cleavage. The dress followed her slim silhouette all the way to her waist, then the dress fell to her ankles. The dress had a 1" train, which made it elegant.

Katherine Beckett was simply astonishing.

Richard was getting ready for the date as well. He put on his nicest suit. A black suit with vertical grey lines. He wore a blue shirt with a dark purple tie. He looked very handsome but then again wasn't he always.

It was around 7:00pm, he was ready. He was excited but yet a little nervous. He loved Kate and he wanted the date to be perfect. He wondered what her dress looked like, he only knew its color, he loved seeing Kate in nice dresses, she was gorgeous everyday therefore whenever she dressed up she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

He left for Kate's apartment at 7:15pm, he'd get there by 7:30 hence giving Kate an extra 10 minutes if she needed it. The restaurant was only 10 minutes away from her apartment, but it was Friday night so he planned 20 minutes just in case.

Castle got to Beckett's door. He had butterflies in his stomach, this was it. It was the date he had been waiting for, for the past four years now. Then again, he was so happy that he had finally gotten this date, nothing could go wrong. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Kate opened the door. She was perfection, her dress was gorgeous, her hair was tied up yet still curly. She was just standing there as beautiful as ever, the long dress fitted her body so that it seemed to have been made for her.

"Come in, Castle." She saw right away that the dress had the effect she was hoping for. Castle's mouth was a little opened, he couldn't believe how beautiful she was.

"Oh, WOW, Kate, I...wow," Castle was speechless which didn't happen a lot. Castle just stood there, completely breath taken.

"Oh-uh..these are for you." He pulled a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.

"Aww Castle thanks, you didn't have to." Beckett blushed and took the flowers, she headed to the kitchen to put them in a vase.

Castle was still standing there, motionless. She was simply magnificent.

While Kate got the vase and started pouring water in it she realized that Castle wasn't there, she noticed that he hadn't come in. She peaked out of the kitchen to have a look at the door, and he was still there.

"Castle? You can come in you know," she rolled her eyes, when she saw his expression. His mouth was still opened.

The fact that she talked to him brought him out of his gaze.

"Yeah, I'm here, coming." He walked in and closed the door behind him. He joined kate in the kitchen

"Thanks for the flowers, they're beautiful." Kate was taken by this little attention, he didn't have to do this.

"Kate you are stunning tonight. I mean , I know you're hot but, seriously? You did this to provoke me...I...wow..."

Kate looked at him, her eyes gave her away, they were saying 'that's what I wanted'.

"So...you like the dress then?" Kate smiled back at Castle, knowing too well that this dress, was the effect she wanted it to have.

Castle came closer to her, taking her by the waist. He positioned her so they faced each other. They gazed in each others' eyes. Kate's stomach was going crazy, she had so much butterflies in her stomach that it almost tickled her. These butterflies had always been omnipresent since the first day she met Castle, but now she had a real reason to feel them.

Castle put his hand on Kates' face, pulling her towards him. He pressed his lips against hers. The kiss was gentle, yet passionate. Their breathing increased, their gentle kiss, was turning into a more passionate and hot kiss. Castle tongue intertwined with hers. He was pulling her closer, bringing her body closer to his. Their attraction for one another was heating up. Kate moaned when Castle's tongue played with hers, he was such a good kisser, her heart was pounding so hard, she didn't want this moment to end. They were both completely giving in to all the feelings they had.

Castle then moved his lips down to Kates' neck. He lightly sucked on her neck, giving her goose bumps. This was driving her crazy, shivers took over her body.

Kate gently pushed Castle against the counter, Castle had released the beast within her. She was pouncing, she couldn't take it anymore. She kissed him passionately, moving her lips to his ear, licking it lightly. She continued kissing him from his ear to his neck. She loved how he smelled, his cologne drove her crazy.

Castle took Kate's face in his hand and looked at her, her eyes were lusting with love. At this point they were both out of breath but neither had noticed, they had been busy with more important business.

"We should go if we want to make it for dinner." Castle could tell that dinner was no longer on her mind. Although he would rather continue with what they were doing, he didn't want to rush things.

"Dinner? Really?" She bit her bottom lip, she wanted to go on, although going for dinner might be a good idea, she didn't want to rush things either.

"Yeah, ok, I did by the dress for this dinner. We could always skip desert though." Kate leaned in to Castle kissing him lightly with tongue, making sure that this would stay on his mind.

"Yeah skipping desert...sounds good," He gave her a gentle kiss, took her hand and headed out.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

They arrived at a chic restaurant called "Par Amour Pour Toi". The lights were dim which created the perfect romantic atmosphere. The tables were covered it a white cloth, the square plates were positioned at 45°creating a diamond shape accoutrement. From what Kate could gather she knew that she wouldn't dine here with anyone else but Castle. Everything just looked way too expensive, but Castle had wanted them to go there, he kept saying that their _Foie__Gras_ was to die for.

"Reservation, sir?" Even the host greeting them seemed pricy

"Yes, reservation for two, Richard Castle" Castle glanced at Kate, letting a little corner smile appear. He was the happiest man in the world right now.

She smiled back, blushing a little, she too was happy to be with him, in this restaurant, on this date. She had recently started admitting to herself that this happening was for the best.

"Yes here we are, follow me please."

Kate and Rick followed the host to their table, it was in the far left corner of the restaurant, it was somewhat isolated making it more private.

"Here you go sir, madam." The host said so while pulling Kate's chair. She sat down and he placed it so she would be seated perfectly.

"A, 2000 Châteauneuf du Pape please." or as Castle says 'du pope'.

"Why does that sound familiar?" Kate knew she had heard it before, but she couldn't figure out where, she frowned trying to recall.

"Oh-uh I drink it from time to time. I think…I think I brought some to your apartment, a few years ago…yeah when we were working on the Ben Conrad case. It's a great wine, and now…you'll taste it."

"Huh, well I'll see what the fuss is about." She let out a faint chuckle, she was teasing Castle because he seemed so wrapped up in it.

He just smiled back, he looked at her with stars in his eyes, for he only had eyes for her. He took her hand and squeezed it.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight, Kate?"

Kate smiled back, and then looked down at her plate. She knew what effect she had on him and him looking at her like this made her heart rush. She looked back at him and they just gazed in each others' eyes. No words were said but they were exchanging thoughts. Their gaze said it all.

"I really love this place, it's very cozy." Kate stated as she was looking around.

The atmosphere was quiet and intimate. You couldn't hear everyone talking like you usually do in normal restaurants. This place was quiet with faint classical music, bringing a little touch to the ambiance.

"Yeah, whenever I want to clear my head and relax I come here. Or whenever I have a hot date" Rick looked back at Kate knowing that his statement would make her smile, and it did.

Rick's goofy side was something Kate loved, what better way to decompress than laughing…although it happened sometimes that she'd laugh when he came up with absurd theories, but that was a whole other issue.

"Sir," the waiter showed Castle his bottle of wine. Castle nodded in agreement and proceeded to the tasting ensuring that this was the wine he ordered. Castle approved and the waiter poured more in his glass then in Kates'

Castle lifted his glass and said,

"To us, here tonight enjoying a good meal, in great company,"

Kate smiled and said "To us,"

She brought the glass to her lips and took a small sip

"Castle this is pretty good wine."

"I told you it was."

He smile, handing Kate the menu, they looked at it for a few minutes studying what was on it.

"I'm having the Foie Gras it's the best in the city, hell maybe in the world."

Kate gave him a 'yeah Castle in the world…ok!'

"No it's true it's so good…you should try it!"

"I'm okay, not a big Foie Gras fan, but I'm sure it's great."

"Ohhh, you should try the Tuna, it's awesome!"

Rick was very enthusiastic about food. But then again he loved watch TV reality shows and he loved to cook so…he was no stranger to good food.

"Yeah the Tuna looks pretty good."

They looked at the menu for a few more minutes. Castle ordered caviar and oysters as appetizers which they shared.

"Wow, these oysters are amazing!" Beckett said while slurping one down.

"Aha, ok it's not very attractive though, look at me I'm making a mess." Beckett loved the oysters but wasn't very good at eating them.

"What are you talking about? You're always attractive, even when you're fighting with oysters"

They both laughed it off, it was pretty funny that she had such a hard time eating them.

After their appetizers and had their main course. They were having a lot of fun together, it was nice just to talk about something else than work, well for more than 10 minutes. They both enjoyed each others' presence and it showed. As the bottle of wine was emptying itself the flirting increased, they were now on their second bottle.

"This place is great, Castle. The food, the wine, the ambiance. Everything is perfect. I really enjoyed the evening." She took his hand and caressed it stroking her thumb on his hand.

"Desert, sir?" The waiter had arrived but neither of them had noticed him. They were just gazing in each others' eyes, for this was a great moment for both of them. It was _their_ moment.

"Umm, desert, uh" Castle felt a slight kick under the table.

Kate looked back at him and he suddenly remembered that desert was taken care of. His eyes widened and Kate couldn't prevent herself from laughing.

"Okay, I take it that's a no" said the waiter smiling, looking back at the two lovebirds and left

"Subtle," said Castle

"What?...Unless you want to have it here. It's up to you." Kate was being very flirty which encouraged Castle to decline the restaurant desert.

"Yeah right! No..I'll pass on it."

They stayed seated and finished their wine slowly, for there was no rush, such good wine should not be chugged down.

They were enjoying each others' company it was refreshing for Kate to be on a date but not feeling like she was on one. She felt like her previous dates with men were like work having to come up with subjects and always having odd moments but now, she felt comfortable with Castle, she felt at home.

"Oh there you go…that's done. Are you ready?" Castle had just finished his glass of wine and they were ready to leave.

"Yeah I'm ready, let me go to the ladies room and we'll leave"

Kate headed out to the ladies room, she walked up the mirror checked her makeup, making sure everything was under control.

"Huh.." she leaned in closer to the mirror, her lips were slightly purple from the wine

"Oh well." She smiled at herself, put on her lipstick and covered it up.

She stepped back played a little with her hair to make it right and headed out.

"Ready?" Castle asked while looking her from head to toe, for she was astonishing and _she_ was with him

"Ready," she slipped her arm from under his and they headed out.

They both got out of the cab, and Rick walked Kate to her door.

"Well I had a great evening Kate, hope you did too."

"Yeah, it was a great evening. Wait, are you leaving?"

"Well, I don't want you to feel pressured by all of this so, if you want me to I will."

Castle wanted to be sure that Kate was all in before going to the next step, it had taken him this long to get here he didn't want to ruin it. He loved her and he could wait, the time it took didn't matter.

"Castle you're not going anywhere!"

She looked at him with loving eyes, lifting her eyebrow slightly. Kate started feeling a little nervous but she was so happy that he was here that she took her nervousness and turned around and opened the door to her apartment she took Rick's hand and pulled him in. She smiled and leaned into him putting both her arms around Castle's neck. She gently pulled him closer to her and started kissing him.

While kissing her back gently Rick took his hand placed it gently in the back of her neck pulling her closer to him. Their embrace was passionate for all they longed for was each other.

They were quickly moving to the couch for the gentle kiss was turning into a passionate kiss.

Kate pushed Castle into the couch she had had enough of this teasing. She looked at Castle and brought herself closer to him, she lifted her dress and sat over him both legs on the side of his thighs. He looked back at her and kissed her their tongues intertwined with one another. Their breathing was getting heavier and heavier. Kate could feel Castles chest against hers.

Kate started unbuttoning Castle's shirt and revealed his bare chest. For it was a lot more shaped than she thought it would have been. She gave him a 'not bad' look and engaged in kissing him again. She was taking his shirt off all the while kissing him, he was such a good kisser that she didn't want to part from him.

Castle gently started unzipping Kate's dress, sliding the zipper to her thigh. She rose to her feet, letting the dress drop to the floor. Kate was bare chest in front of Rick revealing her scar to the man who had once tried to save her. His stomach fluttered at the site of it, but made him realize just how much she meant to him. She moved back onto him and they kissed.

He parted from her lips and started kissing her neck. He gently licked her neck all while kissing it. He moved like this from her neck to her ear. Causing Kate to slip out a few moans, his gentle touch was driving her wild, she knew he'd be good but he was great. Moving from her ear he moved down to her collarbone.

Kate took his face in her hand and started kissing him she was aroused by him and ached for him. She started unbuttoning his pants, all the while kissing his neck. She then took Rick by the shoulders and pushed him onto the couch, making lie down. She was over him, and continued kissing his neck coming down towards his chest. Her kisses become more like bites, his muscular chest aroused her. She unzipped his pants and started taking them off. Rick's moans aroused her more. Her heartbeat was started to get erratic, her breathing was getting heavier.

She moved her lips back to his and now the passion was at its peak for their love for one another was finally materializing into something real. For a slight moment they gazed into each others eyes silently saying 'I love you' and then plugged back into their moment.

Rick reached for Kate's underwear and pulled them off, revealing her now completely naked, she was absolutely beautiful. He pulled her in and kissed her gently. She gave in to him and let out a moan. She then gently started to pull off his boxers and which exposed him. She was aroused by him completely and even more so now.

Soon both their naked bodies slowly danced with one another, rocking back and forth. Kate kissed Castle's chest while making love to him. She kissed him from his shoulder working her way up to his ear, where she gently licked his lobe. He grunted when she did so, making her continue, knowing that she was teasing him. She then moved back to his lips, their tongues intertwined with one another. They lost each other completely in this ecstatic moment for a long time…

Out of breath and exhausted, they pulled away from one another. Both lying on the floor, where they had ended up, looked at the ceiling for a second before looking back at each other.

"This is my kind of desert." Castle said still catching his breath

Kate smiled and moved in closer, resting her head on his chest.

"Oh yeah definitely!" She looked up at Castle and smiled.

He pulled her jaw up to his and kissed her again.

They lay with one another for a few minutes, taking in what had just happened.

Kate felt safe with him and he was the first man that made her feel this way.

"Kate." She looked up at him moving from his chest to leaning on her elbow, seeing him better

"I love you" Castle had wanted to tell her in so long, he felt it was time.

She looked back at him, with a cornered smile and eyes telling him the same. She leaned in and kissed him.

"I love you too"

She got up,

"Come on, my bed's more comfortable than the floor."

She held out her hand to him and he followed her.

…and they lived happily ever after

.


End file.
